Conventional intercepting vehicles for ballistic missiles (also known as kill vehicles) generally use an axial rocket motor (or a single rocket motor whose thrust direction is along its longitudinal axis) with a gimbaled sensor unit, or a cruciform rocket motor with a body-fixed sensor unit. There are also intercepting vehicles with cruciform rocket motors and gimbaled sensor units. The sensor units generally have a narrow field of view (FOV) of a few degrees.
Further, these intercepting vehicles are generally complex, costly, and relatively large. For example, cruciform divert rocket motors using solid fuel are difficult to manufacture below the size currently used in conventional intercepting vehicles. Liquid-fueled intercepting vehicles are more scalable than solid-fueled intercepting vehicles, but are also more hazardous and complex.
Thus, a simpler, smaller, less costly intercepting vehicle may be beneficial. For example, a highly scalable intercepting vehicle with a single axial rocket motor and a simple, body-fixed, wide FOV sensor unit that accommodates the attitude changes required to steer the vehicle, may be beneficial. Such an intercepting vehicle can be much smaller and less costly than conventional intercepting vehicles.